Magpies Are Little Feckers

an capall

an capall

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Joined
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I know I disappoint some of you with my over sentimentality and touchy feeliness when it comes to animals. Here I go again.

I rarely hear any song birds sing on my Estate these days, and I think this is down to the feckin magpies. I came home from Leopardstown lst Sunday and found one with a Thrush pinned on the lawn and he was pecking him to death. I decided not to interfere as it was nature, so I just got my hurley stick and waited until he finished.

What can we do to get rid of these pests?
 
At risk of being really non pc I know that people shoot them where I live in Devon.

Or, get a cat, they hate cats, dive bomb them and heckle them, when they are only minding their own business, and mine chase them, not the songbirds! The magpies move elsewhere to get peace. Songbirds attracted to gardens are safer if the magpies are kept out. We have crows who do no harm to small birds here, and the magpies even attack their young.

But they are beautiful cheerful looking birds. I like their cocky walk and very smart - but you are right they will attack little birds. They scare the blackbirds here so we end up with screech instead of song.

It's controversial, lots of surveys say they do no harm to numbers but country people often disagree with that, including Francome who said he shoots them. I'm not into death and mayhem for the sale of it but I do feel sorry for the smaller birds.
 
We have magpies and all sorts of other birds in our garden. I've never seen any sign of trouble. Maybe they're all Celtic fans.
 
Polluted with them where I am. The others keep well out of their way. Found 2 dead sparrows on the patio a couple of months back and have little doubt it was down to those bullying feckers. When I put bread out for the birds I put it in among the hedge so the smaller birds get their share. Otherwise the magpies gather it up and plank it.
 
i often get Magpies in my garden and sometimes share the bird table with other birds, i quite like the birds flying around and i like Magpies they are beautiful to watch.
 
Misplaced bleeding heart sentimentality. That's right - kill everything you don't find pretty, amusing, or tuneful, as if Nature is at the disposal of human whim. Sparrows? Jeez, it's only because they're losing their habitats and numbers are crashing that people are getting soppy over them - years ago, they were considered harmful pests to crops and shot, trapped, or poisoned.
 
Handsome birds but as An says ever so slightly immoral.

We seem to be "plagued" with the blighters around here. Eight of them having a discussion on a neighbours roof this morning and on another roof, a heron casting a disapproving eye on such common creatures.

A maggie tale. I was walking t'dog t'other morning whence I came upon a scene of a raptor(buzzard, probably, but I hadn't seen one this close up before) with a fresh kill of a small mammal in its talons being harassed by two feckin' maggies. Not sure of the outcome, as all three birds disappeared over a hedge.
 
All the corvids are very clever: it's always magpies, crows and rooks at the roadsides picking up the insects which the cars blat. They've learned it's fast food - especially at 70 mph - and saves them marching rather militantly through the fields all day, picking up the odd grub. They've also learned that we have fairly disgusting ways and that our own fast food's likely to be chucked onto the ground in the lay-bys and service stations, so they're always there, with a few starlings and the odd sparra, cleaning up our mess.

They'll all take baby birds, because they're omnivorous, but the worst decimators of bird life remain those pampered pets, cats, which are anathema to the bird lover. One of mine took two blue tits within a couple of minutes of each other - it was a shocking, awful moment, as up until then, I'd assumed she took nothing, although her mother was forever presenting dead mice and voles. They never brought any kill to the house in Saudi, they just seemed to go on a rampage of blood lust once they got to the UK. :(

And, while we admire all the raptors, let's not forget that they adore nestlings and other bird's babies - plus sweet little dormice, voles, wabbits, and other charming creatures. We look up at them and think they're wonderful, never giving a thought to the fact that no, they don't hang out with an eye on a discarded slice of pizza, thanks, they're far too noble for that. And there's a very tasty ickle bunny down there, having his first look at the big, wide world... :rolleyes:
 
Well, we've a good colony of fecking buzzards here and yet I look out the back of the house to see loads of fecking wabbits out in Nursery Paddock, all with an eye to moving into my garden proper... Where are the raptors when you need 'em, I say !!
 
Julie, I'll lend you Harry (the white and black one in my avatar) - he caught a baby rabbit that ill-advisedly strayed into my garden yesterday .. :suspect:
 
Another magpie tale:

We used to have one come down and help itself to the crusts etc that we threw out for the birds. We stopped for a while hoping it would move on and find another mug and we could get back to feeding the other little feathered friends but within a few days our curiosity was aroused by a tapping noise at the kitchen window. It was this magpie gently tapping the window with its beak as if to say, "I'm still here and I'm hungry."

You can't hate a creature with that much intelligence.

(OK, I know rats are also incredibly intelligent and I wouldn't hesitate to lay a trap for one of them but I don't hate them :) )
 
Thought the one??? that frequents my garden was going to my pond for a drink... then realised this morning having just fed the fish with fish sticks, he was pinching the fish sticks I soon gave him a bit of verbal, and he flew off............... :angy:
 
my fish stick things get eaten by the pond skaters and the tadpoles. I think the fish get one or two - but not many!!!


I like magpies - but dont like the way they go about their lives - but then thats nature.

Dont like those traps either - I think thats mean.
 
"I don't like the way they go about their lives... " Love it, Troods! All that late-night boom-boxing da wood, keeping the kids up too late, annoying the toads next door, and - all that bling! Their nests are the equivalent of footballers' wives' houses, in Cheshire or not.
 
We are overrun with magpies up here - gets a bit tiring saying good morning to all of them - saw 14 together last week. One of them discovered a black bin bag outside my back door and proceeded to munch through the contents - I thought it was a cat until I saw it for myself.

My Dad used to spend hours hiding behind the curtains in the bathroom trying to shoot them with an airgun when we were kids - he rarely got one though - they were far too clever and used to spot him twitching the curtain.
 
There were 11 in a field near us the other day - we spent ages trying to work out what that would mean ( in teh "one for sorrow,two for joy,three for a girl and four for a boy" context)

anyone know??
 
I think you guys need these native birds of Australia to frequent your backyards in the UK!

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